Part 11:

The sky was dark, an odd sight considering that it was noon. Whether it was from the interference from the Digital Gates littering the world, or all the bombs and destruction, light didn't exist. The most basic form of energy was gone in this Age of Darkness.

The city was dark too. It had been not too long ago that this city, this land was the last hope in the tyrannical grasp of the Dark Empire. This day, the hope failed as the Dark Master of Evil stepped outside onto the balcony of his penthouse throne room and started down at the crowd of loyal people and Digimon below.

"Members of the empire," he shouted,"I bring great news today! Over two thousand years ago, Alexander the Great had a great dream. In pursuit of this dream, he conquered all of the Persian Empire, as well as most of Asia. Today, I, Tai Kamiya, Dark Master of Evil, am close to finishing his task. I will soon bring the entire world under my grasp! The world will be mine!"

The crowd started cheering wildly, unable to control their excitement.

"So easy," Sora Kamiya thought to herself as she looked at Tai through the telescopic cross hairs of her rifle from her safety spot on the roof of a building miles away. "So easy, so easy....with one shot I can end all of this. All this destruction and death. With one shot I could destroy the head of the Dark Empire and finish this age old war..."

Her fore finger hesitated as she felt the cold metal of the trigger. "So easy ," she told herself,"So easy.........."

In defeat she through the rifle onto the ground. "I can't do it. I can't kill him. Part of me still loves him," she thought to herself in disgust,"I'd better get moving if I don't want to get caught by the Dark Guards."

She took one last look at the boy she loved, then ran towards the stairs.


The Digital Warriors were seated around the large conference table. Well, T.K. wasn't. He was pacing up and down the floor, creating a grove. "Where is she?"

"Would you please stop doing that?" Ken asked, watching him walk up and down the floor,"I'm getting tired just watching you."

"He's right," Kari added, from her seat,"You've really got to calm down T.K."

He stopped and stared at everyone across the table,"How do you expect me to calm down, when Sora's missing? She's not here!"

He scanned each of the Digital Warriors, then pointed at Yolei. "Where did she go?"

Yolei instantly straightened up. "I, uh, um, I don't know."

"Are you sure?"

"She doesn't know!" Michael said,"You're obsessing! Sora's not here, okay, we all know she can take care of herself!"

"Well, she didn't take Agumon with her," T.K. said, mentioning to the orange dinosaur at the table.

"Still," Willace added,"She is quite capable of defending herself."

"She should still be here," T.K. said, beginning to pace the floor again,"She's our leader, she should be here for meetings!"

"Or, could it be that you're jealous that we didn't make you our leader after Matt died?" Mimi asked.

T.K. stopped for a moment, then continued creating a grove in the floor. "Well, she's not here in the base, that's for sure, so where is she?!"

"Right here."

"It's about time," T.K. said, as Sora walked through the door and sat down in the biggest chair,"Where have you been?"

"I had some things to take care of," she said, sitting down,"In New York City."

"New York City?" T.K. shouted. "You know how dangerous it is there. What could have been so important that you were ready to die for?"

"I went to kill Tai, but I failed."

The room fell silent. Even T.K. was surprised at Sora's emotionless response to his question. They all knew how much Sora had loved Tai, and now he was fighting her as their deadliest enemy. T.K. didn't say anything as he sat down in his chair.

"Now," Sora said,"What was the purpose of this meeting?"

Izzy cleared his throat. "Well, ever since The Dark Masters have conquered the world, and made New York City their capital, our mission has become far more serious. It seems that Tai has turned out to be twice as evil, as cunning, as ruthless, as Piedmon could ever hope to be and also twice as powerful.

We are not exactly sure, but it appears that Tai has completely bonded with Digital Energy. He is extremely strong, and I'm not sure that even Wargreymon can handle him."

Sora nodded, turning to the most power Digimon in the Digital Warriors. "Well, I will certainly try," Agumon said, nodding.

"I'm afraid that won't be enough," Tentomon said,"He's too strong, and, like all tyrants, his power only makes him hunger for more."

"Yes," Ken said,"He's worse. He's teamed up with Arukennimon and Jundramon. They've all ready got the Eastern coast of the United States, the only area left unconquered is the Western Area. I'm afraid that if we don't stop them now, there won't be a world left to save."

"We need to stop him now!" Mimi said, suddenly,"This world is going to die if we don't stop him!"

"What about the Key Cards?" Leomon asked,"They are the only way to save this world. We need to go back and stop Tai from.....oh yeah, he never died."

Andromon nodded. "Yes, I'm sorry Leomon, but, we need to figure out another way to save this world."

"Well," Ken said, placing his hand to his chin in thought,"We know that Tai changed from the good person he was, to the evil monster he is now, because he was buried alive for a short time. Perhaps, if we can stop him from being buried alive to began with, this world won't happen."

"What are we going to do?" Yolei asked,"Tell Sora and Matt not to bury him?"

"No," Leomon said,"Stop him from facing Spacemon!"

"Yes," Izzy said,"It should work."

"Listen," Sora said,"I'm as anxious to stop this world from ever happening as you are, but we need to think this through logically. The remaining Key Cards are locked away tight in the Dark Castle in New York City, we don't have a chance of getting in there."

"But we have to try," T.K. said,"Its the only way."

Sora nodded. "Agreed. The Dark Masters are ready to begin their conquest of the rest of the world. We need to stop him, regardless."

"What are you saying?" Agumon asked.

"Tomorrow, we attack the Dark Castle."

"Are you sure?" Michael asked.

"Yes," Sora said, standing up,"This is the last chance to save this world. We aren't on the brink of Armageddon, its all ready begun. I want everyone on the 'Amphitrite' tomorrow night at eight, understood?"

The Digital Warriors nodded. "Good," Sora said, "This meeting has ended."



It was said in the Age of Darkness, that the Dark Masters controlled the land, the sky, and the air, but could never control the water, for even though it was pumped full of pollution, it was too pure. It was for this very reason that the last free city was deep under the water, protected by a massive dome of glass. Atlantis was as city of hope and light.

The best bar in Atlantis was a place called Harmony, a bar full of friends and people who were more than happy to hear your problems and offer any suggestions to help you. It was here that Kari found Sora.

Sora was hunched over a barstool with a drink in her hand. Kari walked up to her 'older sister' and sat next to her. "Sora?"

The Digital Warrior leader turned around. "Oh, Kari, take a seat, what can I do for you?"

"Sora," Kari said, placing her hand on Sora's shoulder,"You ran out of the meeting before anyone could talk to you."

"What about?" Sora asked, swirling her drink around in her hand.

"You said you tried to kill Tai. What are you talking about?"

Sora stopped swirling her drink for a second, then continued. "What's there to talk about? I tried to kill Tai, and I failed. I had him in my sights, with a pull of a trigger I could have ended all of this, but I couldn't. I couldn't kill him, Kari. I couldn't kill your brother."

Kari's face was hard and stern when she said. "The person that Tai Kamiya was died that day at camp. I no longer have an older brother," she said with a half smile,"Just an older sister."

Sora smiled. "Tell me Kari, do you think I am doing a good job as leader."

"Of course," Kari said,"If it wasn't for you, Atlantis wouldn't even be here. You're the reason we're still able to move on after Matt died. As far as I'm concerned, you are the best older sister anyone could have ever asked for."

"Thanks," Sora said, taking a swipe of her drink,"do you really think that with the Key Cards, we can undo all of this? I mean, when we thought the world had changed because Tai died, it was pretty simple, but, now we know that him dying didn't make this world turn out like this. He was alive the whole time, manipulating Piedmon to create this evil world."

Kari thought for a moment. "I believe that anything's possible, but we can't know for sure while the Dark Masters still have the remaining Key Cards."

Sora nodded."I know. We have to get those Key Cards back, not to just save this world, but to save every reality. If that Digimon that Genai warned us about.... Apocalymon, arrives here, he'll detonate himself, destroying the barrier between this world and every other one. Every reality would be destroyed."

"Maybe after we stop Tai, we'll worry about that," Kari said,"Come on, you need your rest, you wouldn't want to fall asleep when you're leading us, would you?"